NORTHERN SECTOR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 August 1941, Page 5

NORTHERN SECTOR

THREATS TO LENINGRAD & MOSCOW SUPPOSED NAZI STRATEGY. . AN ATTEMPTED DECEPTION. • LONDON, August 14. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that when Smolensk was abandoned by the Russians it was no longer a practicable base for operations. The Germans have tended to dig-in in this heavilycontested fluid sector of the great battle-front, and the invaders under present conditions would face a hopeless task if they tried to advance along the motor highway between Smolensk and Moscow. Because Lake Ilmen and the marshy country between that lake and Leningrad are obstructions in the path to Leningra’d, the German thrust toward Staraya-Russa is clearly not aimed at the capture of Leningrad, the correspondent says. The Germans are evidently trying to cut the LeningradMoscow railway, but unless the Germans achieve a striking success they may be lured into difficult country which a few weeks from now will become almost impassable.

The Germans so far have not occupied any place of the least importance in this sector, but with the German advances in the north and the drive in the Ukraine it is undeniable that the Russians are passing through the difficult period which everyone in Moscow had anticipated for this month. The fighting powers of the Soviet armies are, nevertheless, still unimpaired, and they are preparing for the long winter campaign. The announcement that Hitler established his headquarters with General Rundstedt “somewhere in the Ukraine” is the first hint of the Fuehrer's whereabouts since the outbreak of the Russo-German war.

The Stockholm correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph" says: "This revelation is intended to persuade the outside world that the Ukraine offensive constitutes the Germans’ decisive blow against Russia, on which the invaders pin their hopes of victory, but the purpose of the announcement goes deeper. “Even if the Germans have reached Krivoy-Rog, it is certain that sooner or later General Rundstedt’s armies will be halted through failure of supplies and also through the necessity .to repair their battered and overstrained machines. When that situation is reached, the Germans hope to be able to launch new drives against Leningrad and Moscow. “The German High Command aims at convincing the Russians in the meantime that the whole strength of the invaders is concentrated on a last desperate effort to break through th® Ukraine. In order to heighten the illusion, Hitler’s headquarters has been transferred to the southern front, while all the propaganda reports strive to keep up the impression that victory is imminent. The Soviet leaders are fully awake to what they describe as a clumsy attempt to induce the sians to weaken other sectors by sending troops southward.”